Episode 6 - I Love You

But just as the demon's claws were about to strike them.

"NO!"

A cry of defiance pierced the air, freezing the demon in its tracks.

"What? How are you still awake?", the demon asked, his black eyes looking to the left.

The demon stopped midway, its cruel intentions momentarily halted. 

"Run away, hurry!" 

The father's voice emerged from within the monstrous form, and for a brief moment, the deformity began to recede, revealing a glimpse of her husband's left half-face

"Ah! What's happening!?"

"Quick, run!"

"Ah!"

"Hurry!"

The voices jumbled together, the father's shouts clashing with the menacing presence of the demon.

"Honey?" 

The woman's voice trembled, as she searched the demon's grotesque visage for any sign of her husband's presence.

"How the hell are you still conscious!?" 

The demon's right face sneered, its eyes turning sideways to regard the husband's face. 

"This is so annoying!", the demon sneered.

"Go now, please!" 

The husband pleaded desperately, summoning all his strength to resist the encroaching darkness and provide them with a precious opportunity to escape.

Although  Jiexin knew he had no right to intervene, the urgency of the situation left him no choice. 

"We have to go now!"

The woman shed a tear as she embraced her son tightly, silently crying. She got up, lifted her child into her arms, and cast one final, longing glance at her husband's face. 

"Goodbye, my love," 

She whispered, and with a heavy heart, she turned and ran away with her child along with Jiexin.

As they fled, the unsettling roar of the demon and the husband's painful cries echoed behind them. 

"Not yet," said the husband, his voice fighting to maintain some semblance of humanity, resisting as the demon's influence continued to take hold.

They hadn't run far enough and they knew there wasn't enough time to escape.

The woman abruptly stopped in her tracks, looking down at the ground, realizing the situation. 

She turned to Jiexin, her eyes filled with desperation and sadness. 

"Can I ask you a big favor?" she asked, voice trembling.

Jiexin couldn't find the words to respond, but he understood the weight of her request. 

"Please, save my child once again," her gaze resolute, sadness in her eyes.

Jiexin knew what she was trying to do but he refused so.

"No, we can still escape together"

But the mother's eyes were glistening with forming tears and she shook her head slowly.

"Please", she pleaded.

Jiexin knew that she already made up her mind. It was hard for him to decide but in the end, he couldn't ignore her request.

He nodded slowly, and the mother gave a mournful smile

She gave her child to Jiexin, entrusting him with her son's life.

"Mama?"

The child's voice quivered as he was separated from her.

She touched her forehead to her child's, closing her eyes for a moment before planting a tender kiss on his cheek. 

"Mama and Papa love you, always remember that" she whispered, her smile bittersweet.

Then she turned her gaze to Su Jiexin. 

"I entrust my son to you,"

Her eyes reflected the depth of her desperation.

And with final resolve, she made her difficult decision. 

She parted from her child and ran towards the direction of the struggling demon. 

Jiexin couldn't deny her desperate plea, so he continued running, carrying the child as fast as he could to escape. 

"Mama! Mama!" 

The child cried out as he watched his mother recede into the distance, but Jiexin knew they had to keep going, for her sacrifice had bought them precious time to escape. 

It was cruel, but there was no other way.

After a long struggle, the demon managed to take over the husband's body, moving it freely, but the husband's left face remained. He saw his wife approaching.

"Ho-honey?"

The demon was about to spread its grotesque wings when his wife suddenly jumped and clung to him with all her might, her arms wrapped tightly around his monstrous form. 

"What are you doing?"

The husband was bewildered and struggled against her grip. 

"Get off of me, woman!"

The demon's voice was tinged with anger as they grappled with each other.

"Please, you don't have to do this," cried the husband.

He gazed into his wife's eyes, searching for a glimmer of reason why she did this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Filled with love and longing even as she struggled to cling to the demon.

"I need to save our precious child." 

Despite the fierce struggle, she managed to speak these words as if she were hugging him dearly, her actions driven by her unwavering love.

The demon fought to take control,

"I said get off you filthy human!"

It unleashed a devastating strike with its monstrous red arms that pierced through her wife's abdomen, causing her to cough up blood. 

The husband, witnessing this horrifying scene, let out a heart-wrenching cry, 

"NOOO!"

The wife, spoke her final words, pain in her coarse voice, 

"I love you".

The husband watches her wife's life fade away in her eyes.

With tears streaming down his face, the husband closed his eyes in agony as he sobbed.

"I love you", his final word reflecting hers.

The deformity of the demon continued to spread, shrouding the husband's face, and the humanity that was left in him was covered, consuming him entirely.

Heedlessly cruel, the demon tossed the lifeless body of the wife aside, her blood staining its clawed hand. 

"What a drama!" it sneered. 

"Let me end your son's life for making me annoyed this whole time. I will send him to the afterlife so you three can be together again."

Expanding its dark wings, the demon soared through the night sky, its form blotting out the moonlight and casting an ominous shadow over the world below. 

Its eyes are black and wide, like a hawk searching for its prey.